Fellaini proving he was a good signing after all. Don't see the need for Strootman personally, don't think he's that much better to be quite honest. Strootman is the better passer but Fellaini is more of a threat up front. If we were to invest in midfield once again, I would say go all out for Pogba.
27
Season Average Rating
- Appearances
- 31
- Goals
- 7
- Assists
- 2
- Yellow cards
- 7
- Red cards
- 1
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In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik (@Rood) was joined by comedian Ali Woods to look back at the best and worst moments of a rollercoaster season with the annual United Hour Awards.
Has Ten Hag been sacked yet? We're not sure and we hope not, but it's looking more likely as the days pass.
Who should replace him and why is it taking so long to make a decision?
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Scored a couple of good goals tonight, Belgium were flying.
Continuing his good form I see. Keep proving those critics wrong, Marouane.
He's a top class midfielder when on form. Who would have known?
Me, and a lot of other people who were backing him last year.
Pleased that his form has continued. Is really starting to change some opinions which is just brilliant.
I was backing him too, my comment was more sarcasm than anything else.
I guess the multiple posters who just referred to him as "sack of shit" won't be changing anytime soon though.
Having taken a fair bit of stick earlier this season (and even at points last season) for defending Fellaini, I do feel a bit vindicated now when every day this thread sees another half a dozen "Made me eat my words" style posts.
I love him.
For all of the 'what a bloody awesome guy' comments inexplicably aimed at Falcao, I actually find Fellaini's character somewhat inspirational in how he's turned this around at United.
He's come back so strong, and with so much determination. It's really impressed me.
For all of the 'what a bloody awesome guy' comments inexplicably aimed at Falcao, I actually find Fellaini's character somewhat inspirational in how he's turned this around at United.
He's come back so strong, and with so much determination. It's really impressed me.
Oh, my bad.
I feel the need to say something, though. Fellaini has been good lately, but he hasn't been great and he hasn't been consistent during the course of 90mn. So while I think that we should appreciate his contribution, we shouldn't go over the top and pretend that he is a confirmed top player, for a top team, and that we can make plan with him as a starter next season, without thinking twice.
The same thing applies to Young, Valencia and a little bit for Rojo and Jones.
The same thing applies to Young, Valencia and a little bit for Rojo and Jones.
Our lanky poodle Messi....
Ye, you were definitely one of the posters I was thinking about when I wrote that.
I will happily give Fellaini credit for his performances this season. But he was really bad last year, which is why people gave him stick. He was a parody of himself last season - he elbowed people randomly (3-4 times at least), could barely win a header (got beaten by fecking Lahm and others), against Bayern he had that forest gump run 60 yards where he ended up slide tackling himself, gave the ball away every time and didn't track Schweingster for his goal. If you'll remember he had a massive tendency to switch off and not track runners - which again people gave him deserved stick for. You should revisit his thread from last year to remember some of this stuff. He was comfortably worse than Carrick last year too. Carrick wasn't a liability like Fellaini was. His "good" games were literally him just actually being competent like keeping passes simple and making some tackles, it's not like he put in performances like Carrick and Herrera have in recent games.
In light of that, I have to give him credit for turning it around. I would say it's probably 50% him playing further away from our goal. Playing deep he couldn't use his biggest strength (i.e. back to goal), couldn't cause havoc in the box and sort of exposed his lack of turning ability when people ran at him, and his passing isn't his best part of his game. In the games where he played deeper (i.e. Liverpool @ home, Southampton & arsenal away) it's no coincidence IMO that we were overrun in midfield. He gave away a goal vs Soton and within the first few minutes at Liverpool almost did the same and had scythed down one of their players 30 minutes late, to get a yellow. In contrast, his best performance prior to these recent games was vs Chelsea, where he was playing further forward pushed up on Fabregas. So I think his current role is what is bringing out the best of him, and I can see why the Belgium manager said something to that effect. The rest is confidence, fitness and I think he's improved too. He's playing much more intelligently too in the positions he taking up - last season and at the World Cup he just sort of lingered in the box statically but now he's dropping off his man at the far post, moving on to the full back and the centre back and midfielders and is causing a lot of problems.
Fair play to the lad.
Moyes must be feeling so smug right now.
He shouldn't though, he completely fecked him over with how he played him last season but not having the bollocks to use him as a direct focal point.
I'd say he's feeling anything but smug.
He used him very well at everton. The whole team sucked last season. Fellaini didnt have a pre season and then got injured for a good few weeks very soon. People had started turning on him and Moyes by the time he was fit and available again and we were playing some really shit football.
Last season he wasn't that bad at all. He was injured for half of it, played through injury for a bit and sometimes played nice football. People were posting a gif against Bayern and pissing themselves but anyone can have a nightmare moment. He's great at the moment.
Fellaini's won me over this season, but he was that bad last season.
This is also true.
I've already argued this season that some of Fellaini's form has been inflated in part due to the silly exaggeration of his poor performances last season. I always maintained that he had good games last season, and his performances in the big games, games we lost convincingly, were seen to serve as a reminder to how Moyes and his own guy Fellaini had seemingly sabotaged the club.
Even @Eugenius kind of confirms this in his good post above, with his reference to the Bayern Munich match, a game that people used to encapsulate Fellaini's entire season, even though he was never quite so awful elsewhere.
Fellaini has been good this season, but not brilliant, and if the club aspire to win league titles and get back to the summit of European football then he isn't going to be good enough to hold down a regular role in the side. Neither is Valencia, neither is Young, and the jury still hasn't settled on Smalling and Jones. He is, however, certainly worthy of a place in any top Premier League squad, which was always the case from his time at Everton. He's been one of the better - not best - midfielders in the league for a good while now.
We are playing him as a footballer not as a battering ram and it is paying off.
He can be an important squad player for us in the future and can be used to hold the ball up (like what he did vs Olympiacos last year)
He can be an important squad player for us in the future and can be used to hold the ball up (like what he did vs Olympiacos last year)
He should be 'first name on the sheet' this season. But of course he can be upgraded next season. It will be tough to find a ready made one that is better than what he can offer though.
We will have to see who is available, but there's a very good chance he could end up playing WITH this new signing the way he's been this season. If he kicks on that is. Have to admit I thought he was rubbish, and that he was not United quality, but he's been proving me wrong. I do not think he will stay with us long but he is playing very well.
I'm happy he's doing well and has found his uses but it's relative to where we are at the moment. If we're to progress, then we need to strengthen and purchase genuine quality to compete rather than playing someone purely on their effectiveness due to the circumstance. He's made himself into a useful option though which is fantastic for him and fantastic to us and long may it continue.
It annoys me that the most memorable moment which has stuck in my mind was that famous dribble vs Bayern. I'm fickle
It was shocking and was the proof that something was wrong with him, because Fellaini has weaknesses but controlling the ball isn't one of them, his lack of positional awareness, agility, his defensive naivety and sometimes slow decision making are his weaknesses, but he is a good technician.
Yup. I think last season he was clearly suffering from the pressure. Moyes wasn't doing well, and everyone was looking at Fellaini being one of "Moyes' mistakes". So many of our players last season were awful, but he was the scapegoat among fans unfortunately. We usually gave new signings time to settle, but because we were doing awful in the league, that patience wasn't given by the majority of the fans.
Van Gaal seems to have given him the confidence and license to roam he's needed.
That was definitely part of it I think - he was associated with Moyes (and still is).
Other factors last season are;
*He played the first half of the season with a wrist injury.
*He didnt have a pre-season with us at all (I remember when we signed Berbatov and everyone used this as a big reason for his slow start and were prepared to write off his first few months at the club)
*The entire team was playing shite.
*He was played in a position that we can now see is clearly not his best.
*He was our only midfield signing when there should have been at least one more - we wanted and needed a proper CM like Herrera/Kroos/Fabgregas/Thiago etc (this is less a reason for his underperformance but rather another reason why the fans hated him).
Basically quite a few things that contributed to him performing poorly and to the fans getting on his back from the word go.
that is all true and even then Fellaini was actually nowhere near as bad last season as many made out - obviously he had some poor performances but still he also played well on several occasions and that was why I always wanted him to stay and be given a chance this season.
There were many who never wanted him in the first place so jumped on every negative and ignored any good performance as he became scapegoat no1 - it is great to see that he is making them eat their words this season, it takes a lot of strength of character to come back from that.
I don't think many disliked him last season mostly because he was Moyes'. It's more into he's one of our big signing, our season was shit, and he was unbelievably shit also.
Just look at his underwhelming WC, and tell me if it's because he was signed by Moyes. That triple tackle on Messi right on the edge of penalty box, was one of the dumbest thing I've seen in that WC.
Just look at his underwhelming WC, and tell me if it's because he was signed by Moyes. That triple tackle on Messi right on the edge of penalty box, was one of the dumbest thing I've seen in that WC.
Lots of excuses are made for him for last season but the truth is the biggest problem was moyes played him out of position, he isn't a holding midfield player, he isn't even a real box to box midfielder and he can't play in a two man midfield. He is ordinary in anything other than an attacking role because he doesn't have the skills required but get him playing further forward and the right service and he can bully teams.
Long term I don't see him playing week in week out because I think someone else will be brought in to play behind the striker but he will be an important squad player, credit to LVG for having the balls to use him in that role though this season.
Long term I don't see him playing week in week out because I think someone else will be brought in to play behind the striker but he will be an important squad player, credit to LVG for having the balls to use him in that role though this season.
I still remember when he played vs Olympicaos.
That was probably the most comedic yet what was needed performance.
This is actually what he currently is and doing it very well. He is physically strong, runs a lot and intercepts and breaks up play. He's everwhere on the pitch and runs around 12km a game. Going forward, he also proved that he is a valuable asset - so for me, typical box to box
Ok I like the guy now, he's transformed his career around. He's turned into a valuable player for us.
Let's hope di Maria can too have a better second season.
Let's hope di Maria can too have a better second season.
Personally i blame Fellainis plite last season solely on Moyes. At Everton Moyes would use him further up the pitch to offer something up front, but at United he realised with the forwards we had at his disposal he couldn't play him in a similar manner. This brought around him thinking to play him as a holding midfielder (Fellaini mentioning how that was his prefered position probably didnt help matters!).
Regardless it was one of the biggest mismanagements of the Moyes era, where he would opt to have Fellaini (or Cleverley) as the deepest lying midfielder where he would often push Carrick further forward. This unbalanced the team but was the only way Moyes thought he could use Fellaini without looking like a long ball team, something our current manager will do if he needs to.
I know people still want to use the "he only looks good when we pump long balls to him" but i think they arent appreciating how well hes been doing on the ball in the games hes played this season. I was his biggest critic last season but credit to the guy hes answered his critics and will only improve in this team.
It's less that we're no longer playing him as a battering ram and more that he's really stepped up his overall game recently.
I wasnt saying that he was a sack of ... BUT I certainly did not approve of him.
I felt that he wasnt good enough to be in our team, however, as we are seeing now, he has cemented a role in the first team.
After De Gea, Rooney, Carrick and Blind, he is probably our most important player. He gives us an aerial outlet (plan B). Without him, I dont think we have a plan B, which is why he is a guaranteed starter.
And one thing I have noticed him doing extremely well, is the basics. Notice next time he plays, this is what he does: ball gets passed on the ground or in the air to him. He receives the ball. Brings it to ground (if necessary). Controls it. Then immediately passes it to a team-mate and runs forward. There is no delay in decision making. The pass to a team-mate is performed within 1 second. I saw this happen time and time again, against Liverpool and Tottenham. And he is able to do this very well. I rarely saw him make a mistake when he was doing this. Our opponents just dont know how to handle him.
Its interesting that some people want us to sell Fellaini. I wouldnt sell him for less than £50M. Reason: if we replaced him with another player, who has EPL experience, I believe that new player will cost £50M to do the same job that Fellaini is doing.
In summary, I've completely changed my mind about Fellaini. And I'm sure his work ethic will continue to win over Man Utd fans.
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